{"id":2087,"date":"2025-04-12T16:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/?p=2087"},"modified":"2025-04-12T16:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T16:00:09","slug":"australian-state-could-send-christians-to-jail-if-they-pray-for-people-with-unwanted-same-sex-attraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/2025\/04\/12\/australian-state-could-send-christians-to-jail-if-they-pray-for-people-with-unwanted-same-sex-attraction\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian state could send Christians to jail if they pray for people with unwanted same-sex attraction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Featured Skrypnykov Dmytro \/ Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mon Apr 7, 2025 – 4:08 pm EDT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(LifeSiteNews<\/a>) \u2014 Christians in Sydney and throughout the rest of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, could now face five years in prison and fines of up to $100,000 for offering counseling to or praying for \u201cLGBTQA\u201d individuals, even if they say their same-sex attraction or gender confusion is unwanted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 4, legislation known as the Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024<\/a> became law, raising alarm among Christians who by merely explaining the Good News of Jesus\u2019 power to heal, the immutable definition of marriage, or timeless truths about the complementarity of man and woman, risk being punished as criminals in NSW.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As such, this is a major step toward criminalizing Christianity and the fullness of the Gospel message in \u201cthe land down under.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the NSW government has been careful to assert that the new law has no impact on religious freedom, that is a misleading statement. It will have an enormous chilling effect on non-woke, orthodox Christians who reject neo-Marxist identity politics and the teachings of affirmation-only religious denominations and sects.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australian commentator Ben Davis described the new law introduced by the NSW government as modern \u201cLGBTQA apostasy laws<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat are we, China?\u201d asked<\/a> fellow conservative commentator Evelyn Rae. \u201cThis is straight out of China. It criminalizes Christianity.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe state has literally become the arbiter of truth and authority and they are now deciding what Christianity is allowed to say and do,\u201d she said, adding:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The LGBTQ community is just as much a religion as Christianity, because they\u2019re taking a stance right now on what Christians can and can\u2019t say. They\u2019re taking a moral stance on sexuality and gender. They are just as much a religion as Christianity and the state has said, \u2018You know what? That religion trumps Christianity.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis is straight out of China. It criminalises Christianity\u2026 The state has literally become the arbiter of truth and authority and they are now deciding what Christianity is allowed to say and do.\u201d Evelyn Rae pic.twitter.com\/IVuniV1rP4<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Caldron Pool (@CaldronPool) April 6, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A video<\/a> introducing the new law makes authoritative-sounding statements that are demonstrably untrue, declaring that \u201cso-called conversion practices are deeply harmful, they don\u2019t work, and they are damaging to the whole community,\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s damaging to say that LGBTQA people should be fixed, and it\u2019s inaccurate to say they can be healed.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NSW government goes so far as to overtly dismiss Christianity as nothing more than a \u201charmful ideology when it comes to homosexuality or transgenderism: \u201cBeyond legal protections, we all have a role to play in challenging harmful ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These government-sanctioned Brave New World-like proclamations have been proven<\/a> false<\/a> time and again<\/a> by countless individuals<\/a> over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

subscribe to our daily headlines US Canada Catholic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law, while attempting to present itself as tolerant of Christianity, is nonetheless explicit in its attack on not only Christianity, but on easily observable natural law: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 does not prohibit prayer. However, praying with or over a person with the intent to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identify is unlawful. It is unlawful even if that person has asked you to pray for them to be able to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General comments about celibacy and abstinence in broad statements of belief are not unlawful. However, telling a person in a same-sex relationship that they must stop being sexually active and become celibate could be regarded as suppressing a person\u2019s sexuality and may be unlawful, depending on the circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, telling an LGBTQA person that they should remain celibate and never marry or have a sexual relationship with a person of the same sex, could be regarded as suppressing a person\u2019s sexuality and may be unlawful, depending on the circumstances.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Healthcare professionals and counselors are limited<\/a> to solely providing \u201caffirming care to members of the LGBTQA community across NSW,\u201d and are sternly warned \u201cto act within legal, professional and ethical standards\u201d as outlined by the new law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, \u201cLGBTQA individuals\u201d are to be encouraged to live \u201cauthentically<\/em>\u201d and with \u201cpride<\/em>,\u201d while rejecting the authentic nature of their manhood and womanhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe NSW Government encourages individuals to \u2018come out\u2019 and \u2018proudly\u2019 identify with the LGBTQA community,\u201d explained<\/a> Davis. \u201cBut if, after some time, someone realises it\u2019s not for them \u2013 if they discover they were as uncertain about being LGBTQA as others are about being straight \u2013 they\u2019re effectively abandoned. Don\u2019t ask for help. You likely won\u2019t find any.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Church\u2019s core business is discipleship \u2013 bringing people out of darkness and into the kingdom of Christ,\u201d a pastor told<\/a> Caldron Pool<\/em>. \u201cDiscipleship is therefore always about suppression and conversion, and this means the suppression and conversion of all desires and thoughts that are opposed to Christ\u2019s kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSex and gender do not sit in some protected category, and therefore no faithful Christian or minister can in good conscience abide by these laws,\u201d said the pastor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 Skrypnykov Dmytro \/ Shutterstock.com Mon Apr 7, 2025 – 4:08 pm EDT (LifeSiteNews) \u2014 Christians in Sydney and throughout the rest of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, could now face five years in prison and fines of up to $100,000…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2088,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087\/revisions\/2088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}